Boy Meets Girl
by I Kidnapped Sirius Black
Summary: Boy meets girl. Girl likes boy. Boy hates girl. Girl hates boy. Boy loved girl. Girl and Boy get drunk. Girl gets pregnant. Boy proposes. Girl says yes. Boy falls in love. WITH THE WRONG GIRL: His future wife. Girl. Boy: James Potter. Girl: Lily Evans.
1. Prologue

You all know the story.

Boy meets girl.

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER.**

Girl like boy.

Boy like girl.

They get married.

Happy Ending.

Actually, it goes a bit more like this:

Boy meets girl.

Girl likes boy.

Boy hates girl.

Girl hates boy.

Boy loved girl.

Girl get drunk.

Boy get drunk.

Girl get pregnant.

Boy proposes.

Girl says yes.

Boy falls in love...

WITH THE WRONG GIRL:

His future wife.

Girl.

Meet girl: Lily Evans. Long red hair, to die for figure, long, lean legs, dark black lashes (in no need of mascara), narrow hips, the perfect eye color (emerald green), and to top it all off, smarts and popularity. Everyone loves Lily Evans. She's friends with everyone... Including me.

Meet boy: James Potter. Messy black hair, rippling muscles, six foot 3, to die for hazel eyes, cocky smile, broad shoulders, amazing pecks, amazing pranking abilities, high cheekbones, and amazing friends. James Potter is everyone's idea of perfect.

I remember every conversation we've ever had:

_"What kind of flowers does Lily like?"_

_I looked up, startled, to see James Potter talking to _me_. "Um, Lily doesn't like flowers." I lied._

_"Really?" He looked so disappointed. I almost regretted lying to him... Almost. "She seemed to like Diggory's just fine."_

_I swallowed hard. "She was pretending." I fibbed. _

_"Oh." He looked so depressed, I had to say something._

_"But she likes Honeydukes chocolate."_

_He brightened immediately. "Thanks!"_

And there was that time in Transfiguration...

_"You have a quill I could use?" I jumped, and turned to see the sheepish smile of James Potter. I melted._

_"Yes." I said, and ruffled through my things to find the only quill I had was in my hand. I handed it to him. "Here."_

_"Thanks."_

_I went quill-less for the rest of the lesson, but it was worth it._

How could Fate have messed up so horribly? James and I... I thought... I hate alcohol. It is making Lily and James get married due to their baby.

And I'm sitting here, watching Lily run around frantically. Laughing, screaming, crying... She's a whirlwind of emotions. I thought I was her friend, but now that she's got something with her, she doesn't think about me over here.

Meet me: Brown hair. Mud brown eyes. Long eyelashes. Pale skin. Good smile. Nice laugh. Quiet.

I'm no Lily Evans.

_I'm in the corner,_

_Watching you kiss her_

_O-oh_

_I'm right over here_

_Why can't you see me?_

_O-oh_

_I'm giving it my all,_

_But I'm not the one you're talking home!  
_

_Oo-oh!_

_I keep dancin' on my own._

_(I keep dancin' on my own)_

What a bad song to think of right now. 

No one would notice if I fell asleep and died. No one would notice if I never showed up to class. James wouldn't care. He's too busy stuck in his love bubble. Who was I kidding? Like James would ever give me a second glance.

Girl loves boy.

Boy loves girl.

My heart shatters.

I turned on my side miserably. Lily doesn't notice. No one does. I hate her.


	2. A Sad Life I Lead

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.**

Lily Evans is pregnant. No one can seem to get over the fact that our Head Girl is pregnant with the Head Boy's kid. And yet everyone still loves her. And James is always cuddling her, kissing her, whispering in her ear, laughing with her... It makes me feel sick to my stomach with jealousy.

In Potions, no one sits next to me. We had to pick partners. Before Lily's pregnant days, she would make someone sit by me. It was embarrassing, but had been appreciated. Now I sat shamefully alone. And I'm waiting for Slughorn to walk into the room. I notice that there are four boys missing from class, and one of them is a Slytherin. There are only three other seats besides the one next to me.

I think the Slytherin will end up next to me.

"All right, class. We'll be studying the potion _Curse of Agne_. Not acne, children. _Agne_. Anyone heard of this particular potion?"

I raised my hand. I always do in Potions. But he calls on Lily.

"The Curse of Agne makes you hallucinate, sir."

Slughorn praised her. The Slytherin walks into class and takes a seat next to Snape. Slughorn is too busy praising Lily to berate him.

That leaves two seats. One by Lily, and one by Marlene. Then, there's the one by me.

At least I won't have to sit next to a Slytherin.

"The Curse of Agne was made by a man named Luke Helms. He had a wife who had problems with her sight, and so to help her see, he concocted this potion. However, this gave her extra sight... That is to say she saw hallucinations. It has temporary effects, luckily. It is known for it's sapphire blue color, and it sparkles like sapphires as well. The ingredients are on the board and the instructions in your book. Get started!" He clapped like a gleeful child in a candy store.

Then, in walked the Marauders. Well, not Peter. He hadn't been able to get into NEWT level potions. But there was James, Remus, and Sirius. My heart fell as I watched James take a seat next to Lily. Sirius and Remus lunge for the seat by Marlene, but Remus gets there first.

I have reached the lowest of all moods possible. I have to be Potions partner with Sirius Black for the rest of the year.

"Sluggy, there aren't anymore seats."

Slughorn and I flushed... For different reasons, of course. Slughorn was blushing from the disrespect he was being showed. I was blushing since I was so invisible I made my desk invisible too. "Professor Slughorn," He corrected. "And there's a perfectly nice seat by Ms. Samuels,"

"She a Slytherin?" Sirius demanded, crossing his arms. I wanted to die. Part of me, however, was angry. Part of me wanted to know just who Sirius Black thought he was, not knowing who I was. Well, then again, if he doesn't even know himself there's no way he can know me.

"Mr. Black, she's a 7th year Gryffindor such as yourself."

"Where is she?" Sirius made a show of looking among the rows of desks. His eyes passed right over me.

"Right behind your friend, Mr. Lupin."

"Oh. Her." He slunk into the seat next to me, and I didn't dare look at him. I looked away, and wished that he weren't such an arrogant prick. Then I wouldn't have had to suffer that moment of humiliation. We've been in the same House since 1st year! I'm a friend of Lily Evans! James has asked me for a quill!

"What are we doing?" He asked as people got up.

"We're making a potion." I said curtly, and got up to get the ingredients. No way I was going to ask him to do anything. He was too popular, and I'm nothing... Boy, I'd love to get out of Hogwarts so I wouldn't have to be here.

I wish I was back home with Libby and Chelsea. I wish I was in Beauxbatons with them. Dang James for finally getting Lily... I dumped the supplies on. Sirius smiled charmingly at me. I looked away.

"So, how do we make this?"

"We follow the directions."

I flipped open the textbook and began to add the mint sprigs. Who knew potions needed those? Weird. Then again, just about everything goes into potions. I read somewhere that ancient wizards thought mint sprigs had powers of healing.

"Not much for group work, are you?" Sirius asked dryly.

"Not much for anything, really." I shrugged, my voice a monotone.

"You need to lighten up."

"Sorry if my self esteem is suffering." I sniffed.

"From what?" Sirius demanded, startled.

"My heart being crushed into a zillion pieces." I said dully.

_If you don't know me, then James doesn't know me. I never had a chance, did I?  
_

Sirius began to stir the potion six times clockwise. "What crushed your heart?"

"Your left foot."

He stopped stirring and stared at me. I rolled my eyes, cracking a smile. "What? It was the first thing that came to my head. I was trying to say something random, so the word "left" came out, and then... well, foot." _And you obviously don't care so I'm just gonna shut up now._

He chuckled and added... raisins. "What are you doing?" I asked him coldly.

"Putting in an ingredient."

"We need _beetle eyes_! Where'd you even get those?"

He shrugged. I stared at him, aghast, then down at the potion. "It's... sparkly."

"Is it supposed to be sapphire blue?"

"Sirius, how is this possible?" I demanded, turning to face him for the first time. Wow, he's really handsome. "We skipped half the ingredients and steps, but our potion could pass for the real thing!"

"Welcome to the world of me." He grinned broadly. A smile that could rival James's own smile. I can see why girls constantly swoon over him. I decided to let it go and sank back into my seat, and pulled out my book.

"What are you doing?"

Forget good looks. He's annoying.

"I'm reading."

"You have a thing for stating the obvious." Sirius noted.

"And you have a thing for talking. Shut it."

Silence.

_"No, I mean, if Leanne were here, would you be sitting here, talking to me?" Ro_

"Give that back!" I demanded sharply, reaching for the book. But his arms were way too long for mine. I sank back into my seat, indifferent. Caring took too much energy.

"You're practically Slytherin. You don't do anything."

"Yes, I do." I snapped, glaring straight ahead. He's an incompetent twit.

"No, you don't." He disagreed. "You're a fun killer. No fun. Boring. You don't talk, you don't laugh, you don't do anything."

"I'm not boring!" I protested, finally turning to look at him. "I talk, I laugh, I do stuff!"

"Well, I've never seen you do it."

"You also didn't know I existed till ten minutes ago."

"Still caught up on that, eh?"

"It's kind of hard not to! That's a major blow to self esteem."

"Ah, so that's what crushed your heart."

"Your left foot. Precisely."

And then, a magical thing happened. It wasn't particularly funny, our exchange. Still, we both laughed. A light chuckle. Still, it happened. We both did it at the same time. And I thought, "Hey, maybe he isn't so bad after all..."

"What's your first name?"

I was about to blurt it out, but then stopped myself. "Lexi." I lied. No one else knew me and the teachers wouldn't say my name. It was all Ms. Samuels. So, I'll go by, "Lexi". My real name is for people who actually care about me. Sure, Lily, Alice, and Marlene know my name, but they never talk to me.

I look at our potion. Still perfect. "Maybe we should give this to James." I heard myself say, a smirk stretching on my face. But I would never say that! Where was I going with this? "It might improve his sight."

"We should, shouldn't we?" Sirius smiled brilliantly. He filled a flask with potion and stalked over to James. He didn't have a gay walk like some pretty boys at Hogwarts. He had a sleek, cat like walk. Like how I imagine a spy would walk. But he achieved being careless at the same time. Careless spy walk... That's like an oxymoron. You don't usually associate "careless" and "spy", unless you're talking about a failure spy. Failure boy... Chelsea and I called Chip Daniels that, and now they're going out. How weird is that? Then again, Chelsea goes through guys like tissues. She'll probably dump him in a day or so. Heck, maybe she's dumping him right now...

James let out a yell. "My vision's gone all fuzzy! Sirius, you dolt, you've made me go worse!" He wailed.

"There's something on your glasses." Lily commented, and grabbed them to inspect them. Jealousy lurched in my stomach like an evil monster. She's just holding his dumb glasses! Down, Jealousy, down!

"I can see!" James said, amazed. "Sirius, the potion worked! How'd you do it?"

"Raisins, my friend. Raisins."

I hadn't realized I was laughing so loudly till Lily and James turned around to look at me. I waved at them.

I didn't know Sirius. Not at all. But he had the same effect on me that Chelsea and Libby had. James waved back like an idiot. "Hey, look at me! I can _see_!" He sang.

"That rhymes!" I blurted out. That wasn't the strangest part. Sirius said the same thing at the same time.

James stared at us. "Do you guys know each other?"

"No." I shook my head.

"_Now_ we do." Sirius said at the same time.

"Mr. Black, is there something you would like to share with the class?"

"Yes. Yes, I do." Sirius said confidently. "My partner and I have constructed a potion that improves your eyesight."

"But not to the point of hallucinations." I added hurriedly.

"As you can see, my dear friend can see without the use of glasses. Test him, if you like." Sirius spoke dramatically, making huge hand gestures to match his words.

Slughorn, from the back of the room, held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." James said immediately.

Slughorn stared at Sirius in wonder. "How did you do it, m'boy?"

"It was simple really. After adding the mint sprigs and crushed moon stone-"

"What are you talking about?" Slughorn stared at him. "You were supposed to be adding corzac berries and lilac leaves."

Sirius turned to me. "What instructions were we looking at? And why did the ingredients you grabbed match the recipe?"

I looked at him, bewildered, and looked down at the book. "Um, Sirius... You might want to look at this."

"What?" He ran over. The title of the page read, _Gnome Transformation_.

_When crushed moon stone is mixed with mint sprigs, it gives the bearer hair wherever the potion touches-_

Right on cue, James began to choke. Sirius and I looked at each other, wide eyed. "There's hair-" I began fearfully.

"In his his throat!" He said in an panicked tone. He sprinted towards his friend.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IRRESPONSIBLE GIT!" Lily was screaming at Sirius.

"And you're pregnant! Whose irresponsible now?" Sirius flailed childishly.

Lily flushed in anger. Sirius went on. "Ooh, what's this? Is that a baby bump?"

"Shut up, Sirius!" She glowered at him.

"Oh, we're on first name basis, _Lily_?"

I'll admit, it felt good to watch them bicker. I sort of feel like Sirius is on my side. He'll probably do something to ruin my opinion of him, but I hope this image lasts. It's a nice one.

"BLEH!" James coughed. His face was going really red. What do I do? What do I do? This is James! Suddenly, I knew.

I raced towards James, and muttered the spell, hoping it would work, immediately, he began to heave gasps.

"What'd you use?" Lily asked, sighing in relief.

"Reparo."

"What? How does that work?" Lily asked, startled.

"Well, reparo fixes things and the abnormal hair in his throat is bound to be fixed by that."

"Wow, you're really smart!" Lily looked amazed.

I blushed. "Not really. That was pretty basic stuff." I shrugged.

"But not everyone would think to use such a simple thing for something like this."

"Thank you!" James moaned. "Although I think you're the one that practically killed me..."

"I did not! Sirius was the one that added the raisins-"

"But you were the one that showed us the wrong ingredients and directions." Sirius pointed out.

"You're the one that skimped up, though!" I whined. "I did an honest mistake-"

"That could have easily ended my best friend's life!"

"Sirius, relax. It's your fault." James rolled his eyes.

"It's both their faults." Lily amended before Sirius would speak.

"I hold Sirius completely accountable. He's the one that fed me the potion, anyway."

"It was her idea!" Sirius whined.

"And you're a fagget." I blurted out.

"Madame Pomfrey is here!" Slughorn yelled, barreling in, a puffing Madame Pomfrey right behind him. "How is he-?"

"Breathing." James grinned broadly. "She helped me."

Is it just me or has he never said my name? Merlin, he doesn't know my name. No one does.

"Good job, Ms. Samuels." Madame Pomfrey said approvingly. "As I'm not needed, I'll be returning to the Hospital Wing."

"Sorry, Poppy."

"It's quite alright, Horace." Madame Pomfrey smiled, and waddled out. Hm, soon Lily will be waddling around campus. This made me smile. Lily will be putting on weight, have to deal with everyone petting her stomach, and... _She gets James. _I wouldn't mind being harassed and ridiculed if I was carrying James's baby... Guess I'll settle for being potions partners with his best friend.

What a sad life I lead.

* * *

When I got back to the dorms that night, I pulled out some parchment.

I've heard about girls gushing into their diaries, spilling all their dirty little secrets... The idea frightens me. Someone will obviously find it. But I had nothing to do, so I began to write... Write about a girl named McKenzie. In 3rd person.

_"Mom, I'm sorry." Tears streamed down McKenzie's face. She was sorry. So, so sorry. Her mother just put her head in her hands._

_"Just go... go up to your room." Her voice was thick with tears._

_"I'm sorry." She repeated. But her mom didn't say anything else. McKenzie ran upstairs and threw herself on top of her bed, sobbing. She could hear them speaking downstairs._

_"Lora, she's just a girl..." A male's voice said._

_"I can't believe she would do this!" Her mother was full of accusation and anger, but most of all it, was filled with hurt. _

_"Lora, she didn't understand..." The man tried to reason. McKenzie felt ever worse. How could she have done this to him?_

_"I can't believe she would do this." My mother repeated, her voice softer so McKenzie had to strain to hear. But then McKenzie didn't want to hear anymore. The quiet sobs became wails as she howled brokenly into her pillow._

_She hated herself, then. She hated what she'd done. She knew what her mother meant when she said, "I can't believe she would do this." She mean, "How could the little girl I've cuddled and held have done something so horrific? I'm so disappointed. I didn't think she was capable of doing such evil. What happened to my little angel?"_

_That was the gist of it. But all McKenzie needed was the gist as she wailed with guilt and self hatred. _

I stopped writing, breathing heavily. I tried to turn my thoughts to something happier. Like James, perhaps. His wide smile, the fact that I almost suffocated him with hair...

But it hadn't just been my fault! Sirius was the one dumping raisins. And he didn't catch my mistake. It was just as much my fault as it was his. That calmed me down. I didn't have to cry now. Lily has her own problems to worry about. Why would she worry about me?

_Why would she? I'm nothing._

These depressing, self pitying thoughts will get me absolutely nowhere in life. I looked down at the parchment, ready to burn it, but then I thought better of it. It was... interesting. I'd never written anything like it. Maybe I wasn't the best writer. But I had written it, and it was far better than my past attempts at writing. Those had been full of reckless humor that only made sense to me. But this was something different.

I didn't want to smile. I didn't want to cry. So, I just laid there and thought. Sometimes the thoughts made me want to cry, but these thoughts passed quickly. So I just laid there, feeling empty. Finally, I fell into a deep, dream filled sleep. The dreams had no meaning, though. It was all just a mesh of thoughts, pictures, and colors.

* * *

James was engaged to Girl. Girl was not me. Girl was someone else. Every morning, I had to mentally think these words. It hurt so bad every morning. Every morning, I thought that I was going to die from it. James, with that huge smile, those dreamy hazel eyes, that slouch of his... It was ridiculous and unfair that he wasn't mine. I deserved it. I've longed for him for ages. I was supposed to tell my grandchildren that I chased after him for 7 years, and he'd liked me from afar, and we were totally meant to be.

I won't even _get _grandchildren now! James will get the grandchildren. I won't even be mentioned in those stories they tell them. I'll be in an insane asylum by age 23, moaning James's name. I imagine I'll find means of suicide once there. You can only take Asylum life for so long. You gotta go. Libby will bring the flowers to my grave and talk about my dream of becoming a cloud when I was 13, and Chelsea will talk about saving the whales and what not. Will tell them this was the way I would have wanted it.

Planning my funeral at age 17.

What a sad life I lead.

* * *

**Review? You know you want to.**

**PLAYLIST:**

**Heart Stopped Beating - Dang We're on Fire**

**Tainted Love - Soft Cell**

**Dancing On My Own - Robyn**

**Lose it All - Backstreet Boys  
**


	3. Git

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS**

"Hello, Potions Partner." Sirius said cheerfully, sinking into the seat next to me.

"Already forgot my name, eh?"

"No!" He protested like a child would: shaking his head vigorously. Either he was doing it on purpose or he has an impossibly low IQ. "Lexi." He grinned widely, flashing his perfectly straight teeth. I have teeth just like it, but it took braces for two years to get 'em that way. Not him. I got them from sucking my thumb for ages, but I don't think he's sucked his thumb a day in his life. I bet he was born 8 years old. A Sirius Black any younger is too scary to imagine.

"Let's try and not to murder your best friend today." I cracked a smile at him.

"James wants to thank you for that."

"It was your fault."

"Okay, so he thanked me. But it was your fault, so I'll go ahead and tell you. He was thankful because Lily and him had hot sex last night. It was quite disgusting actually. You'd think with her having a baby and all that they'd slow down, but they're at it like bunnies-"

"Sirius." I cut him off. "I don't care." More like, "Sirius. I can't take anymore."

Sirius shrugged. "I'll get the ingredients since you've proved your incapability yesterday." He stalked off in that super cool spy walk of his. I wish I could walk like that.

Slughorn had explained that each table would be doing one of three different love potions. Philtre D'Amour, Oideas Grá, and Amortentia. The desks were numbered, and I was desk 11. I looked at the board, and noticed the number "11" under the Amortentia column.

Great. Of all the three, we get the hardest.

"Okay, Amortentia is an extremely difficult potion, and I'd rather not put anything but the potion ingredients in..."

"But look at the board." Sirius disagreed. "Heart of Carwell is obviously a better ingredient to use than Fuegut. Heart of Carwell may look uglier, but it has 1: a heart in it's name, and 2: when mixed with Aeho berries has the distinct, sweet aroma. The potion instructions in the book is merely for amateurs," Sirius declared.

"...How did you know that?" I asked, amazed. "I mean... Um... Okay, we'll go with what you say,"

Sirius smiled winningly. "I knew you would see it my way. That is exactly why I got Heart of Carwell," He held up the ugly brown root, "and not Fuegut." He gestured to Lily's table, where she was presently chopping up a pretty, pure white leaf.

I looked at the directions. "This will completely throw off the directions," I frowned.

"We'll make due," He smiled. I let Sirius take charge, snapping orders at me left and right. I didn't really want to argue with him. But by ten minutes till the end of class, it was an outrageous green.

"Sirius, it's supposed to be pearl-y!" I gasped. "How are we supposed to save this thing?"

"Trust me," He said firmly.

"I have the whole period!"

"Stir it three times clockwise while I add the Fuegut,"

"I thought you said we weren't adding the Fuegut!" I looked at him, amazed.

"Just do it," Sirius ordered. Grumbling, I did as he said.

"I'm not your slave, ya know..." I muttered.

"I know," Sirius smiled.I stirred clockwise as he dropped of shredded Fuegut. I didn't even see him tear them up. Maybe he just stole some from Lily and James. To my absolute horror, the potion turned a sickly purple color. Sirius cursed. "Okay, let's add the Heart of Carwell,"

"How will that help?"

"Just do it! We had to do it at some point!"

I dropped the slivers of Heart of Carwell in. Nothing happened.

"We're dead!" I moaned.

"Wait for it," Sirius said softly, staring at the potion. Miserably, I turned to look at it, and gasped. The potion was quickly lightening to a nice, distinctive pearly sheen. "It doesn't smell half bad," I muttered. Steam rose up in spirals. "Sirius, we did it! We made Amortentia!"

I heard Lily scream in frustration. Sirius and I looked up. "It's not the right color!" She complained.

"Dear, calm down-"

"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, JAMES POTTER! YOU'VE RUINED THE POTION! RUINED IT!"

I wanted to tell her to stop yelling at him, but I couldn't.

I was nobody.

James looked sorrowfully up at her while she breathed heavily. The room was silent. Lily flushed. "Oh, I'm sorry, James. It's not your fault; it was mine."

"No, I'm pretty sure it was mine," James admitted. "I put in some powdered moonstone to help with the color, but it seems to have made it worse..."

"YOU WHAT? YOU'RE SUCH A GIT!"

Sirius sighed. "They'll never stop..." When they saw Sirius Black was getting back to work, they did too. Of course. Sirius Black was _somebody_. He had a life, and he was certainly popular. Sirius Black, the guy everyone wanted to be (or date). And he didn't seem to notice at all! He didn't care!

That's how Libby and Chelsea were like. They had _so many friends_. They were so popular, and they didn't care. It was like they didn't notice that they were so likeable.

I just _had _to finish my year at Hogwarts...

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Couldn't I spend my last semester at Beauxbatons? I'd just have to be here till Christmas! I've already been invited to Beauxbatons... Every year that dang letter arrives. Now that James is taken, I might as well go. There's no guys there, sure, but it's not like I'm associating with my future husband here, anyway.

"What are you thinking about? Why are you smiling?"

The smile fell from my face as I was zapped back to reality. "...Nothing..."

"Sure, sure," He smiled. "How about we take sniffs of our Amortentia, and I'll tell you what I smell if you tell me what you smell."

"How about you go first?"

"No. You might not do it." _Git._

"You might not do it either!"

"I am a man of honor," He said solemnly.

_Yeah, the Blacks are just BURSTING with honorable men._

Sighing, I took a sniff, I was lost in ecstasy. My eyes shut, and I breathed deeply. Leather... Rain... Grass... Coconut cake... Lavender... "Oh my gosh," I moaned. I felt a hand gently pull my head back my neck, and I stiffened as shivers ran down my spine, and electricity crackled. Goodness, the neck is a sensitive spot!

"What did you smell?" Sirius grinned wolfishly.

I tried to remember. "There was definitely coconut cake," I smiled dreamily. My mom used to make it. "Leather and some grass... A little lavender, and rain."

Sirius nodded, then took a big sniff. You would think that Sirius was a pretty relaxed guy, but when he smelled the potion... He visibly relaxed. Every muscle on his face, his arms, his back, it just... released. He stayed there for a long time, and I realized I would have to pull him out. Similar to him, I gently pulled him back by his shirt. My fingers grazed his neck. His eyes flew open with a jolt, and all the muscles tensed again. If I relaxed a little, I could still see a very relaxed Sirius. But now that I had something to compare too... He was intense. Under pressure, maybe.

But he put on a pretty darn good show. "Well? What'd you smell?"

"Lavender, mint, a ladies' perfume, and-" He paused, and leaned in so close, I stopped breathing. "Hm, I suppose it's your perfume. I've been smelling it all class. Did you use another girl's? Does someone else have your perfume?"

"I... I got it from my friend in Beauxbatons," I blushed slightly. Libby had given it to me for my birthday. "She said it was pretty popular. It could be anyone, really," I looked down at the table. After a moment of slightly awkward silence, I broke it. "What else did you smell?"

"Hm? Oh. Your perfume, lavender, mint, the Quidditch field, and apple pie with ice cream," He sighed longingly. "I should had some for dessert today,"

I sighed. "Oh, I love apple pie! Then again, who doesn't?"

Chelsea. She hates it, and she adores cherry pie. But Sirius doesn't need to know that, nor does he care. "You keep doing that... thing," Sirius sighed. "That thing where you look like you're about to open your mouth, then you decide against it,"

"So?"

"So, what are you going to say?"

"That's really none of your business," I said stiffly. Luckily, Slughorn cut in.

"Oh, this is a _lovely _potion. Absolutely stunning! Ms. Jenson, still an excellent potioneer, I see."

I blushed bright red. "Um, sir... My name is Samuels."

"Oh, right," He said, not even looking at me as he began to trail to the next table. I glared at his back.

"Ignorant fool," I muttered.

"Don't like ol' Sluggy?" _Git._

"Would you like someone who can't remember your name? Oh, right. _Everyone _knows Sirius Black's name," I bit at him. There was a moment of tense silence. "Sorry, I don't know what I meant by that."

He didn't reply. He just got up in one fluid movement, and did that sexy spy walk towards James.

Merlin, did I just call his walk sexy?

"Prongs, we made Amortentia _correctly_,"

"Padfoo-" James said pleedingly.

"HOW? YOU SUCK AT POTIONS, BLACK!"

Sirius growled at Lily. "How would you know?"

"Oh, the fact that you fail _every single class you take_."

"Lily..."

"No, James. He has to hear this." Lily shook her head at him, then turned back to Sirius. "You arrogant git! I bet Mackenzie did all the work!"

"Her name is Lexi," Sirius glared at her

"Whatever she calls herself, I bet she did it all. You're like a parasite! Feeding off James's popularity and charm, using Remus for his brilliance! You have nothing to offer the group but good looks. You use and you manipulate! You're useless!"

My eyes were huge. Woah. I did _not _see that coming. I guess I always knew that Sirius and Lily never got along, but the fact that Lily's so keen on hatred for him... Sirius stared at her in disbelief. James was looking down.

"You're wrong,"

Lily, James, and Sirius all turned to look at me. As did the majority of the class. Why? What did I do? Did I have something on my face?

Oh. I was the one that spoke. I swallowed. "You don't even know him, Lily. Sirius obviously isn't useless if he's getting me an O on this potion and he did it all himself. And it's obvious James is nothing without him." My voice got stronger. "But you know that, don't you? You hate it. You're jealous."

Lily looked outraged. "I am no-"

"Lily," James sighed. "Drop it. Please. You too, Sirius. This isn't the time... or place."

Sirius and Lily's face fell, and Sirius dragged his feet over to his seat beside me. "Man, I hate that girl..." I muttered.

"Ditto," Sirius sighed.

Slughorn chuckled nervously. "Well... um... class dismissed!"

* * *

Meals in the Great Hall are always a solitary affair, but now that Lily and her friends hate me... I mean, today must be the worst. I say this because I haven't gone in yet... I'm not sure if I want to.

"Aren't you going to go in?"

I jumped, and turned around to see none other than Lily Evans. I looked at her fearfully. She looked at me blandly, but there was no malice in her expression.

"I... uh..."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Thank you for defending Sirius. I had a bad case of PMS, and I was already in a bad mood. And you were sort of right. I hate how tight those danged Marauders are. Sirius is going to be there for everything. He'll be James' best man, the godfather, and James' first choice for help. Always. And the fact that he's pompous and a git doesn't help matters," She sighed. "I didn't mean to tear him down completely, so it was nice that you stuck up for him."

"...Right."

"Oh, and Sirius called you Lexi. Did he just get it wrong, or-"

"My name is Lexi." I said firmly.

Lily looked absolutely horrified. "And we've been calling you by the wrong name for-"

"No. It's fine." I shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Just call me Lexi from now on,"

"Alright," She smiled. "Would you like to sit with me and my friends?"

"Ah... no." I shook my head.

"Got somewhere else to sit?"

"...No..." I sound like a broken record, Merlin...

"Then why don't you sit with me and Alice? Marlene's off shagging Sirius, anyway,"

I gagged on the gum I forgot was chewing. "Oh my gosh," I sputtered.

Lily looked at her sympathetically. "Ah, you fancy Sirius,"

"No!" I gasped. "I don't like him! I..." _love the father of your baby. _Yeah, that would go down perfectly. Especially now that she's being nice. And could it really hurt if I lied...? It's not like she'll set me on a date with him, or tell him that I fancy him. And every time I brood and get snappy, she'll blame it on the fact that I walked in on Sirius sleeping with someone (instead of walking in on her and James). "...do. I fancy him." I finished stupidly.

"Oh, that must be _so _hard..." I let her prattle on as she lead me into the Great Hall. To my horror, the first thing she said to Alice was: "She fancies Sirius!"

"It's not that surprising, really," Alice sighed. "Everyone fancies him at one point. I know for a _fact _that you fancied him in second year, Lily."

"...Okay, maybe I did." Lily took a seat, and I awkwardly sat next to her.

I sat there for five minutes, listening to them talk about guys. Sirius and James in particular. My face was getting redder and redder as the conversation wore on. I looked down at the table, wishing I were sitting alone. Awful images of Alice and Sirius in a broom closet flashed through my mind. Sirius didn't strike me as the type to do that sort of thing. Then again, Alice said it was in 4th year...

The doors of the Great Hall slammed shut, and Lily and Alice whipped their heads to turn and look. I didn't bother. I hated people that looked.

"Oh my gosh," Lily elbowed my ribs. Merlin, that girl is strong! I rubbed it absently. "Sirius looks _pissed_!"

What does James see in her?

To my shock, Sirius sat down two seats from me... By the Marauders? How did I not notice them? Usually I have this built in _James _radar.

Alice and Lily stopped talking and were suddenly very busy with eating their food. Alice giggled slightly. It was painfully obvious to me that they were listening in. Sirius didn't make it hard.

"Dang it, I'm so sick of Marlene!" Sirius cursed. "She's so dang clingy and she's not as adventurous as she has been in past years."

I choked on my pumpkin juice. Past years? How long have they been shagging? Alice and Lily looked at my sympathetically. Gosh, I just had to choose a playboy to pretend to fancy.. I think I'm going to suffocate under all this pity.

Remus was making a face at him. "You're so vulgar. Here's a thought: try going on a date."

"I do go on dates, Moony." Sirius blinked at him. _As if. Git._

"Snogging a girl in a broom closet doesn't count, Padfoot." Remus sighed. "Try being a gentleman."

"It's pretty fun," James nodded. "And how else do you expect to find your soulmate? That's the whole idea of courting. Grab a girl, see if you're compatible, then propose."

"If only it were that easy."

"That's what I did with Lily!" James continued brightly. "Well, except she wasn't as easily convinced that we were compatible... Oh, hi Lily!" James waved eagerly. Lily smiled at him widely, revealing a mouth full of food. She quickly shut it, while I laughed. Not so weird: Sirius did too.

And Alice. But Alice is so giggly, she laughs _all the time_.

Lily ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Hey, Lexi!" Sirius said brightly. "I didn't notice you were here!"

_People rarely do. _"Hey! You saved my life in potions!" James grinned at me. Butterflies did their usual thing in my stomach.

"Lexi," I said dully.

"Huh?"

"My name. Lexi. You obviously don't know it."

James looked flustered. _Just part of my revenge for not liking me back._

"Er... Sorry. Lessi, right? Unusual name."

"Prongs, you idiot. It's _Lexi_." Sirius sighed.

"Well, she talks so dang quiet, how am I supposed to hear it?" James said, exasperated. I felt a cold feeling in my stomach.

Merlin, have I fallen in love with an image? Now I see. James and Lily are utterly perfect to each other: they both are blind and don't give a crap for people who don't speak up. Why does Sirius seem to be the only real person in this whole school?

I stood up. "I'm not hungry."

"Aw, don't go all... offended!" James whined. "I was just kidding."

"I'm not hungry." I repeated. Lily grabbed my arm, and yanked my ear so it was right next to her lips. Ow.

"If you want Sirius to notice you, you shouldn't leave. And possibly unbuttoning your shirt a bit to reveal some cleavage... Honestly, you're like a nun!"

Merlin. I can't believe I sat back down. _Why do I need him to notice me here? I've got all of freaking POTIONS..._

"What changed your mind?" Sirius asked, turning to face his whole body towards me. It was sort of... cool. It was a way of showing he was giving you all of his attention. So... sincere.

"Lily reminded me that I had to wait for her to help me with my Potions essay," I said nonchalantly.

"Oh, I can help you with that. I finished it last period. Worked all through History of Magic." 

"Padfoot, when did you become some a prodigy? I'm the Head Boy!" James looked amazed.

"I need to pass to become an Auror," Sirius shrugged. "And I'm done eating. I can help you with the essay now." _No! There's no rush! Please... No... Git._

I threw a wild look at Lily and Alice, pleading with them to make up an excuse to make me stay, but they were smiling widely. "Go!" Lily mouthed.

Goodness, goodness, _goodness_.

"I... Alright." I sighed. He had barely touched his food! What was wrong with him? Why was he getting up? I stood up and lead the way out of the Great Hall, not letting myself admire that sleek spy walk.

"You're a fast walker," Sirius nodded at me. I had only paused at the Common Room for him. He had been pretty far behind.

* * *

Redoing an essay you already finished is really annoying. Especially when I force myself to ask stupid questions, and Sirius refused to let me work. He talked and I struggled to rewrite some words. Soon, James and Lily came back to the common room, and they were snuggled up on the couch. My earlier feelings towards James dissolved, and I felt sickening jealousy sink to the pit of my stomach. It sat there, gnawing at me.

I don't care if he's a jerk. I still like him.

It was definitely irritating. Sirius seemed to be having a good time. He was currently laughing loudly.

"How am I supposed to finish this paper if you keep yacking?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I haven't even explained moonstone's effect on folygimous yet!" He gasped. _UGH. You GIT._

Yes, my paper is on _Folygimous_. A root used to make things waterproof, but when heated and dunked in a cool potion, it gives a potion the effect of not only intense color but a lovely cherry flavor. In the Wizarding World, it's often used for flavoring in some potions used for medicine purposes, as it has no other effect on the potion. Folygimous, when in contact with moonstone, becomes drastically poisonous, which is why some potions can't use it.

"Moonstone has an effect?" I asked stupidly. "I thought it didn't have an effect on potions other than color and flavor."

Sirius grinned. "It-"

Just then, two third years that had been speaking rudely to each other began to punch one another, launching one of them onto our table (they were only a few feet away). It sent my things flying off. "Hey, watch it!" Sirius glared.

"Ugh," I groaned. I lazily began to pick up everything, and Sirius helped me put things in a stack. Suddenly:

"Hey, what's this?" Sirius picked up my... _Oh my gosh. _My finished Folygimous paper. He read through it, eyebrows furrowed. He looked up after a moment. _Kill me now, please. Oh my gosh. Kill me now. _"This looks like a finished Folygimous paper in your handwriting... and it looks like you already know the effect of moonstone."

I ducked my head. "Okay... So maybe I didn't need Lily's help with the paper..." I muttered, my cheeks flaming red.

"Why'd we work on a paper you've already finished? You could have just told me."

"Um..." _I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to go upstairs and wallow in misery. I sort of enjoy your company. You're James' best friend, and maybe he'll finally notice me. _

"What did Lily say to make you stay?"

"She told me to flash my boobs," I blurted out.

_Oh gosh. That made NO SENSE. You could have lied! Whoever said "honesty is the best policy" obviously only said it because it rhymed._

He looked at me like I was insane. "She _what_?"

I am SO threw with honesty. "Nothing. Nothing at all..." I fidgeted nervously.

"What's going on here? Seriously."

"Can we just... forget this happened?"

"No. I wasted three hours on this dumb paper that you've _already written_."

"You hardly did anything! And it... it looked like you were having a pretty good time."

"Then you obviously don't know what a good time is."

"Heck yes I do, and it's not here at Hogwarts!" I stood up. "Arrogant git. You're the one who offered to help me with homework. Why is this suddenly an _enormous _waste of time?"

"I... Well, if you would have told me, we could have done something more... fun. Like sneak out to Hogsmeade, or go to the kitchens." He looked like he wanted to say more, so I waited. "And... I wanted to repay you. For what you said in Potions."

I melted like butter. "...Right. Well, there's no payment needed."

"How about I be your friend?"

"That sounds... good." I smiled at him softly. I leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Good night, Sirius,"

His eyes sparkled. "Good night, _friend_."


End file.
